Thorns Among The Roses
by xXBalorBabeXx
Summary: Lines were unintentionally crossed... but where did they blur to begin with? (Set in mid 2016, co-written with Cry-Of-A-Warp-Engine and werewolf-queen-022)
1. Night From Hell Or Is It?

" _Oh hell no!" Amanda growled before she ran at Alexa and started beating the younger woman up after Alexa had slapped Finn… by the time Finn and Shinsuke had pulled Amanda off, Shinsuke passed Amanda to Finn._

 _Amanda yelped and squealed slightly when Finn inadvertently grabbed her breasts, Finn lowering his hands to her sides and immediately apologising as fans chanted "Go and fuck her!" at Finn as his and Amanda's faces turned a crimson red._

 _Grabbing a microphone, Amanda turned to Alexa._

" _You ever put your hands on him again, I'm gonna break ya, bitch!" Amanda responded as Alexa scrambled back up the ramp before Amanda dropped the microphone and her and Finn looked at each other._

 _In the backstage area, Hunter could hear it clear as a bell from his office and reached the hallway, seeing an angry Amanda slam a production crate into a wall._

" _Hey, easy!" Hunter said loudly, pulling Amanda aside._

" _That little bitch slapped Finn, Hunter! Then tried to fucking run, he didn't even do anything to her!" Amanda yelled, Hunter forcing her to sit down and seeing from her scraped up hands that she had put them through something. "I'm trying to keep calm, to keep my stress levels down… but with everything that's happened… I feel like I'm losing my fucking mind."_

" _Remember how upset you were when Brock and Kurt got injured at Wrestlemania 19?" Hunter asked._

" _I was scared to death… I was scared they wouldn't walk out alive, head injuries and broken necks kill people." Amanda managed to say. She was still angry… until she felt Finn rest his right hand on her left shoulder._

 _Amanda stood up and immediately her arms were around him, Finn reciprocating the tight embrace._

" _That angered me out there…" Amanda whispered as Finn's fingers were running up the back of her neck and through her hair._

 _Deciding to let them be, Hunter headed back to his office… and saw a bruised and bleeding Alexa._

" _Watch how you hit people from now on." Hunter said, in no mood to deal with Alexa... but she wasn't leaving right away._

" _And what are you gonna do about her punching and hitting me like an MMA fighter?!" Alexa demanded._

" _Not let it go, okay?!... All of you just keep on at each other, the ring is where it should finish!" Hunter said, getting frustrated but Alexa wouldn't let it go either._

" _Not let it go?! Yeah, you won't let it go until you give her the chocolate cake and a card saying 'well done'-" Alexa shouted, cut off by Hunter stepping around suddenly and walking right up to her._

" _I'm not putting up with it, you either get it together or pick a door and fuck off!" Hunter growled in her right ear, before heading off past her and away to go and calm himself down._

 _His phone chimed and he looked at it, seeing a text from his oldest daughter Aurora._

' _Daddy, are they okay?'_

' _They're on their recovery road, sweetheart, they'll all be okay.' Hunter replied._

" _I really am sorry about it…"_

 _Hunter turned, seeing Amanda and knew that she was being truthful._

" _I know… that's why I didn't tell you the same I told Alexa." Hunter said._

" _I don't want to know the full details, do I?" Amanda asked, rubbing her bruising arms and elbows._

" _Not really… in cliffnotes, either calm it right down or pick a door." Hunter said._

" _Yeah…" Amanda responded, Hunter seeing that she had let herself calm down… but he knew that she cared about Finn and it reminded Hunter of himself and Stephanie in their younger years._

" _You really like him, I can see that." Hunter replied._

" _I haven't felt like that about any guy in a long time, Hunter… I know Finn and I've known each other for two years but it's like we've known each other our whole lives." Amanda admitted, Hunter letting a small smile out._

" _Then let yourself enjoy it… go on, kiddo." Hunter responded before they hugged, Amanda leaving…_

 **Present time…**

Neither were sure what to say at the moment, Amanda having thrown Finn's jacket on over her ring outfit as Finn stood up… and the blue eyed man carefully approached her.

"We've got each other all flustered…" Finn spoke up, Amanda nodding.

"Yeah… but you acted like a gentleman about it, let go and apologised. That shows the respect you have." Amanda replied as they embraced each other.

But they knew that things would go haywire quick as the 2016 Draft Lottery got closer… especially given the technology nowadays.


	2. The Thing About The Industry

_**9/9/15, Providence, Rhode Island…**_

" _I'm sick of it, I'm sick of him burying us young talent trying to make a name for ourselves!"_

 _It wasn't the first time 25 year old Amanda Cena had heard those words about her brother… there tended to be a lot of tension whenever there were storyline feuds involving John and anyone on the roster._

 _But as many times as she tried, she could never figure out why Kevin Owens was so bitter… it just drove her crazy trying to, Kevin had already had an accomplished career even before signing with WWE. Hell, she had no idea why Kevin was here tonight, he was already on the main roster._

" _No one person is bigger than the company, than the industry… it's just gonna keep going and going and other stars are gonna carve their own paths to the top." Hunter said, trying to calm the former NXT Champion._

" _I've worked my ass off for 15 years to get to the top, Hunter! Why are part timers like Cena still here, hell, why is his sister getting more opportunities and more attention than I am when she's burying the talent here too?! It's because she's under Balor and taking him lying down!" Kevin shouted._

 _Before Hunter could respond, a small right hand with cinnamon toned nail polish on its nails tapped Kevin's shoulder and Kevin turned and saw Amanda after she pulled the hood of her Balor Club hoodie down._

" _I scratched, clawed and took every opportunity by its throat in the near decade I've been in this business and before you start about how the only way I did that was on my back, you don't know truth from garbage being spewed out of your mouth! And one more thing-" Amanda said in a low angry tone before her right foot connected once between Kevin's legs and her knee slammed into his ribcage before he was no longer standing at his full height. "You should listen to Hunter… no one is bigger than the business and no one is entitled to ANYTHING when they walk through that door! If you're really that bitter… you can just walk right out that door and not come back." She said, briefly shouting halfway through as Kevin sat down on a crate to catch his breath from how hard Amanda had hit him._

 _Hunter looked from Amanda to Kevin and then back to Amanda, cautiously resting his hands on the petite woman's shoulders._

" _It's over now, Mandy… go calm down, okay?" Hunter said quietly, Amanda leaving._

 _She really hated when people dragged John's reputation down and treated her with disdain and animosity because of how they perceived him._

 _But now hers was being dragged through hell… and she needed to go clear her mind._

 _Amanda reached the doors and pushed one open, the tiny brunette continuing on her walk._

 _The beach was quiet but given how late it was, it really wasn't a surprise that everyone that had been her during the day had gone on to somewhere else to party or turned in for the night._

 _All except one person who had stopped and sat down on a lounge chair, not entirely because she wanted to but because her feet hurt from the distance it took to get here from the arena._

 _The more hatred Amanda got for what was perceived as wrong, the more she was starting to feel like an outsider… she put her head in her hands and tucked her legs to herself, crying._

 _She didn't bother to fight the strong arms that wrapped around her and pulled her close, only sobbing into Finn's right shoulder as he lightly stroked her hair and then rubbed his hand up and down her back to try to_ _calm her… and after a while, it worked._

" _How did… you know where I was?" Amanda asked quietly, her voice wrecked._

" _Hunter told me that you left and I remembered that we were here last night, having fun… but you need your rest now." Finn explained._

 _Amanda nodded and finally stopped shaking, letting Finn help her up and take her to the car… when they were headed back, his phone rang and he answered it._

" _Finn? Did you find her?" Bayley asked._

" _Yeah… you'll be relieved to know I found her. That's not to say everyone can pile up on where we are, especially after tonight." Finn answered._

" _I'll tell them that you found her and to back off for now. She's okay, that's all that matters." Bayley responded before they hung up, Finn driving carefully as he realised that Amanda was asleep after looking at her._

 _And he knew that she needed a break from the chaos before it overwhelmed her…_

 **Present time…**

The second they got off the red eye flight to Providence, Rhode Island, Finn and Amanda were immediately mobbed by the press before reaching the rental car… and Finn grabbing a TMZ reporter by his shirt when the reporter had grabbed Amanda by her denim shorts.

"Taispeáin roinnt meas agus ná déan teagmháil léi!" Finn yelled before shoving the reporter away, Finn and Amanda getting in the rented Equinox and driving off… and Finn turned to Amanda, noticing her tired eyes as he adjusted the blanket over her. "Rest up, Darlin'." He said before kissing Amanda on her forehead, Amanda leaning the seat back before putting the pillow on the headrest.

As soon as Amanda's head was on the pillow, she closed her eyes and drifted off into a deep sleep… Finn slowed the speed of the car and focused on the road ahead in the predawn hours.

He was nowhere near as exhausted as Amanda, having drank two espressos earlier… but he knew at some point, he had to rest.

The radio was on at a low volume, _Me And Mrs. Jones_ by Billy Paul playing as Finn glanced at Amanda with a slight smile before lightly rubbing the top of her head with his right hand for a few seconds.

At the arena later in the morning after getting ready for the day and putting most of their things in the hotel room, Finn found himself sleeping next to Amanda on the couch in their locker room as she had her earbuds plugged into her phone and listened to _Burning Rope_ by Genesis… she absentmindedly ran her fingers on her right hand through Finn's hair as he had his left leg half sprawled out over her legs and left arm wrapped around her back.

Their door was locked and Amanda felt so content by the calmness that she gave into temptation and turned her music off before setting her phone and earbuds aside and closed her eyes, wrapping her right arm around Finn before closing her eyes.

But their sleep was cut short by someone out in the hallway yelling "I'm gonna fucking kill him!", the two tired friends looking at each other.

It seemed like they couldn't get much peace lately.


End file.
